Memories
by Jedifangirl98
Summary: Something is wrong with Natasha, and nobody knows what it is. In Natasha's mind, her horrible past gets mixed up with the present. Bloody memories begin to haunt her, and the only one who knows this is Clint Barton. Set after the Avengers. Rated T for some gore and violence.
1. Memories

Natasha wiped a hand across her sweaty brow and got up from pinning Clint on the ground. They had been working hard in the gym for the past five hours, and Natasha had successfully 'killed' Hawkeye at least ten times in the past hour.

Clint slowly stood up from the far-from-comfortable position Natasha had pinned him in, and swiped at her playfully. "What's the matter, Natasha?" Natasha glared at him and busied herself with picking up the accessories they had thrown or hit each other with.

"You can pin me down _at least_ fifteen times per hour...when I let you." He continued. Natasha rolled her eyes, and he smirked and wiped the sweat from his face with a towel on a bench in the corner of the private gym room they were using in Stark's old tower. It had been remodeled to suit the Avengers and all their needs since Tony Stark had insisted on building a whole other building for himself instead of rebuilding the old Stark Tower.

Natasha by this time had picked up all the accessories and strode out of the gym. Hawkeye followed her, keeping his distanced from experience. He knew just from the way she walked and her stubborn silence that she was in no mood for nonsense.

Natasha continued on past the elevators and towards the stairs. She never used elevators unless it was an emergency. She paused at the bottom of the stairs, shook her head, and then began to run up the stairs quickly. As soon as she reached the last stair, she quickly put all her weight in the balls of her feet and did a double flip in the air onto the main floor. However she didn't quite regain her balance and smashed her head against the wall.

"Gosh, darn it!" She muttered angrily. She slowly picked herself up and whirled around to stare angrily at Clint, who had raced up the stairs after her.

"Sometimes I have the feeling that I have an extra shadow." She hinted coolly.

Clint looked around the room quickly. "I don't see any extra shadows." He teased, but inside he was worried about her. She definitely was not acting normal.

Natasha sighed in frustration and put a hand to the gun at her hip. Clint knew she would never use it on him unless to protect herself like when Loki had taken control of his mind, but he also knew that she wouldn't hesitate to hurt him if he overstepped his boundary.

Without saying anything, he quickly strode off in the opposite direction that he thought Natasha was going in, wisely leaving the Black Widow to herself.

As soon as he turned the corner, Natasha sank to the ground and groaned. Her head was throbbing so hard that it felt like she had been hit over and over again by the Hulk. Not to mention that she was hot and then cold the next second. What was the matter with her? She never felt like this except for after a rather difficult mission for S.H.I.E.L.D, and lately she hadn't been doing anything strenuous.

She stood up slowly and walked over to the next set of stairs. Since the gym was below ground level, there were at least fifteen flights of stairs before she reached her room. She took a deep breath and began to jog up the stairs.

Five minutes later, she reached her floor and walked into her room. It was very plain and simple without any extra accessories, but it wasn't a cold, sharp room either. The room was mostly white, and there was a small twin bed in the center. The only other piece of furniture was a desk where she worked on paperwork for S.H.I.E.L.D. On one wall was a small closet with her clothes, and a door to the bathroom. That was all, but Natasha liked it. It didn't remind her of her past as most places she stayed at did. There was no red to remind her of all the blood from the people she had killed. It was perfect.

Natasha walked into the small, compact bathroom and unzipped her suit. She stepped into the shower, and turned the faucet on. The icy cold water hit her face hard, and she sighed, relaxing just the tiniest bit. She shivered but did not turn the water warmer. She hated warm water. It always felt like the warm, sticky blood from the helpless victims she had killed in the past.

Three minutes later she turned off the faucet and grabbed a towel. She wiped herself off quickly and dried her hair. Then she got back in her jumpsuit, and sat on the edge of her bed to put on her thin, flexible shoes that helped her grip the floor and gain momentum for running and jumping. As soon as she sat down though, her whole body relaxed, and she found it extremely hard to get up.

"Oh, gosh no." She muttered and slowly stood up, but looked longingly at the bed. Sleep sounded so inviting right now. That was unusual since she hated sleeping and always tried to sleep the last amount of hours she could to get through the next day.

She shrugged off, blocking it out just like she had her headache, and her aching body, and the frequent dizziness she experienced. Just then a knock sounded on her door, and Natasha opened the door quickly. It was Dr. Banner, shifting from one foot to the next uneasily. The higher up he was, the more uneasy he got.

"Hey Natasha." He said in his rough but low voice.

"Hey Banner. It's not often I get to see you up here."

Banner looked down at the ground and nodded. "Well, yeah, I came up to tell you Tony wants you down in his training center. He's teaching Pepper some moves to protect herself, and he wanted you to show her some simple but effective moves."

Natasha smiled and shook her head. "I'm sure Pepper is loving every minute of it."

Banner snorted. "Yeah..." He trailed off.

"Why did Tony send you? Why didn't he just comm me?"

"He's trying to add a new thing to the coms so that there is a three dimensional video of the person you are calling." Banner took off his glasses which Natasha knew was a sure sign that he was going to launch into a scientific explanation.

She coughed and nodded towards the stairs. "Thanks for telling me. I'll be heading down there now."

Banner nodded and raised is hand to say goodbye and then headed towards the elevator. Natasha walked the opposite way to the stairs and ran down them. It was only twenty minutes ago that she had ran up the stairs hoping that she could somehow relax. She continued down the stairs until she reached the main floor. Then she turned left towards a heavy metal door with two securities on each side. Natasha flashed her card towards them, and they waved her on. She went down twenty steps and continued on into a carpeted hallway with newspaper clippings and pictures of Tony Stark hanging all over the walls. She saw no point in so many accessories for such a thin hallway, but you didn't question Stark. He did whatever he wanted.

Beyond the hallway was a small room that was sparsely furnished with modern furniture. There was another heavy metal door with two guards that spoiled the look of all the decorations. Natasha flashed her id once again, and they nodded for her to go. Once she walked through that door, she was finally in Stark's own building across the street.

She heard a small creak behind her and whirled around. Clint was following her...again.

"Tony call you too?" She asked.

"Nah, I just wanted to see how they were doing." Natasha noticed a small gleam in his eyes, and she shook his head.

"Whatever you're up to, I wouldn't do it."

Clint pretended she hadn't said anything and lead the way to Stark's gym. He pushed open the door to see Pepper sitting on an expensive leather couch in the corner. She seemed somewhat more flushed than usual, but besides that did not look any different. She was still in her business type suit as usual, and she had her clipboard with her, jotting things down on it while talking on her cell.

Natasha turned to look at Tony who was drenched in sweat and working with a fitness coach who Natasha recognized as one of the best trainers in New York. She raised her eyebrows and glanced at Clint. Obviously Tony had been lying to her to get her down here, and she knew why. She hated having to 'demonstrate' for the fitness coaches Tony brought down sometimes. She preferred being as inconspicuous as possible which was pretty hard now since her face had been in almost every newspaper worldwide.

Tony turned around from dodging one of the coach's punches and saw Natasha staring at him coolly. He raised a hand, "Let me explain..." He started, but the coach kicked him in the back of the head, not realizing that he had stopped. Tony fell to the floor and lay there for a few seconds before slowly getting up again.

He rubbed his head and winced. "He's all yours." He said to Natasha and made his way to Pepper whose hand was still clapped over her mouth in shock.

Natasha shook her head, annoyed. She really did not feel like doing this right now. She didn't feel very limber right now, and her headache was demanding attention again. But the coach looked so eager to work with her that she inwardly shrugged and walked over to the coach.

Stationing herself opposite the coach, whose first name apparently was Dave, she automatically blocked his attacks. She waited for the split second for when he paused, and then wrapping one of her legs around his legs, used the other to take him off balance. She grabbed his torso while he was falling and yanked him, so that he twisted in the air onto his back. The whole fight only took five seconds, and everyone watching on the sidelines gaped in astonishment except for Clint who calmly nodded approvingly.

But Natasha didn't get up from her position on top of the coach. The whole room had started spinning, and her heartbeat pounded loudly. Everyone in the room looked at her confused, and the coach coughed awkwardly. Still she did not move. Her breath seemed hard to catch, and she was burning.

"'Tasha?" Clint asked. He ran over and bent over her. He touched her arm, and repeated her name. Natasha looked up slowly. Her face was flushed and sweaty, and her eyes had a glassy look on them. "Tasha." Clint said quietly. "I'm calling the medical team." He stood up and nodded at Tony who ordered Jarvis to call the medical team.

Clint helped Natasha up, who staggered backwards suddenly. Clint grabbed her arm and used his other arm to support her back. Just then the emergency sirens went off. Tony Stark swore under his breath and told Jarvis to turn them off.

Natasha watched confusedly as the room spun around again and again. Then she looked up to see Clint bending over her. But he wasn't Clint anymore. He was the assassin she had burned alive when she was a young teenager and who had come back again and again to haunt her dreams.

She struggled wildly in his grip and managed to make him let go of her arm. Then she began to run to the door. She heard someone calling her name, but she didn't look back. She reached the door, but the door suddenly had blood slathered over it. She heard the horrified screams of the children in the building she had bombed a long time ago.

She put her hands over her ears and collapsed the ground. Pepper had her hand over her mouth again, and Tony for once in his whole life looked like he had no idea what to do. The coach stood awkwardly in the corner, not sure if he should just leave or stay to make sure she was alright.

Both Tony and Clint began to run over to her, but Clint pushed Tony out the way. "Stay back!" He mouthed. Tony nodded and stopped. Clint slowly approached Natasha and called her name softly. Natasha staggered up from the ground and pulled out her gun. She pointed it in Clint's direction and pulled the trigger. Clint ducked and somersaulted on the ground. Natasha held the gun up in front of her with both hands. She was shaking visibly.

Clint by this time knew the only way to calm her down was to hit her unconscious. He slowly crept up behind her, but Natasha whirled around. Clint paused, trying to give her a chance to recognize her, but she didn't seem to recognize him. She still held the gun up, pointing it at his chest. Clint slowly raised his hands up above his head, and Natasha lowered the gun just the tiniest bit.

Clint stared at her until he was sure she was off her guard and then in a lightening move, wrestled the gun out of her grasp and hit her as hard as he could. Pepper screamed as Natasha fell to the floor unconscious.

"Where is the darn medical team?!" Clint yelled, and bent over her again, feeling her pulse. Everyone watched him as his eyes widened and he sank back on his heels. "Get the medical team. Now."

**Hey guys! This is my first ever Avengers fanfic! How do you like it? I was really trying to keep everyone in character. Do you think I should continue? Read and Review! **


	2. Panic

"_Get the medical team. Now." _Clint yelled, panicked. Everyone watched, not knowing what to do, while Clint put the palms of his hands on Natasha's chest and began pumping up and down. Then he placed his ear against her chest and waited for some sign of a heartbeat. He waited for what seemed like ages, and everyone else held their breath anxiously. Pepper looked like she was about to faint, and Dr. Banner had slipped in out of nowhere, hearing the sirens.

Then Clint felt a small thump against his ear, and he sighed and sank back against his knees. "She's okay." He said in a dry, cracked voice. Just then the medical team ran in. One of the medics immediately knelt down by Natasha, who was gasping and choking for breath although she was still unconscious. Another took Clint's arm and began to lead him away, but Clint shoved him off and knelt by Natasha again.

"I'm sorry, sir, but you will have to leave." The medic demanded.

Something in this command broke Clint's control over his emotions. He began to shove away the medics swarming around Natasha. Two medics began to struggle with him, trying to lead him away. Clint hit one unconscious and kicked the other in the gut. The last two medics quickly began to move Natasha onto a stretcher.

"Get away from her!" Clint yelled angrily, seeing them. Tony Stark joined in the struggle to subdue Clint, and Pepper began to lead Banner out of the room in case he lost control. Tony successfully slammed Clint's head into the wall, and Clint sank to the ground, groaning. Then Stark hit him again, and everything went black in his eyes.

-AVENGERS ASSEMBLE-

When Clint woke up, he found himself in his room on his bed. He slowly sat up, rubbing his aching head, and looked around confused. There was nobody else in his room, and he couldn't remember how he got into his room. He stood up, and went into the bathroom. He got a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water. He gulped it down, and then walked out of his room, trying to recall what had happened.

He automatically went down to the gym, and began to look at the various equipment. Then it dawned on him.

"Natasha." He whispered. He whirled around and ran out of the room. He raced to the elevator and quickly punched the number to her floor. He forced himself to calm down as he waited for the elevator doors to shut and the elevator to move what seemed like a millimeter per second up to her level. As soon as the doors opened, he burst out and ran to her room. He opened the door, and looked in. Nobody was there. The bed was made neatly, and it was obvious that no one had been sleeping in it. Clint glanced at the clock. It was three o'clock in the morning. She wasn't in the gym because he was just there, so his suspicions were confirmed.

"I wasn't dreaming." He whispered, shaken. "Where is she?" He raced out of the room in search of someone who would know. Two minutes later he knocked on Banner's door.

A voice called from inside, "Yeah?"

Clint didn't bother to come in but just asked, "Where's Tasha?"

Banner walked over to the door and opened it. He was apparently still awake since he had his street clothes on and some kind of instrument in his hand, so he was probably working on something in his lab. "She's on the medical floor. She..."

Clint didn't bother to listen to the rest of what he was saying. He raced to the stairs and ran down them to the medical bay. Tony Stark hated hospitals just like every other Avenger did, and so he had set up the small hospital in the tower. It was a really small hospital with only three rooms, but the nurses and doctor there were constantly busy since the Avengers so often got battered up for many different reasons. Plus, the medics had communication with the hospital a block away, and if a real emergency was occurring, would send for more medics to come over from the other hospital.

Right now there seemed to be twice as many doctors and nurses, and Clint stared around confusedly. A nurse passing by saw Clint and motioned to the door on his left. "She's in there, and so far as we know, is doing fine. We're still trying to figure out the reason why she had that episode back there. She's staying here until we can figure it out."

Clint sighed, and leaned against the wall. The adrenaline and strain from the past couple hours was beginning to fade down, and he began to realize how exhausted and tired he really was. He leaned against the wall for a few minutes until he had sorted everything out in his mind, and then he opened the door to Natasha's room.

Natasha was awake and sitting up, but she looked paler than usual and her hair was plastered to her sweaty forehead.

"Hey Clint." She said.

"Tasha." Clint replied.

"Probably gave you a scare back there, didn't I?" She said.

"Yeah..." He snorted. "You'll be paying for that later."

She raised an eyebrow and cocked her head. "Like how? A black eye? Sprained wrist?"

Clint grinned. This was more like the Natasha he knew. "No, probably worse. I guess I'll be nice and make it a broken leg."

"Fair enough."

They both smiled slightly, and Clint gave a sigh of relief. She was alright. He recalled how she had tried to shoot him, and he sighed.

"Tasha?"

"Yeah?"

"What were you seeing back there in the gym? Why did you shoot me?"

"I must have been really bad if I missed you back there..." She faded off and paused, becoming serious. "You remember how you once asked me if I knew how it was like to be unmade?"

Clint nodded, inwardly wincing at the memory of Loki.

"and I replied that you knew that I did, but you didn't really, right?"

Clint shook his head. "No, I never did, but I never got round to asking you. Plus, I wanted to live a little longer."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "When I was really young, just a toddler, I was taken away from my parents. The Russians taught me to kill along with other children who they thought talented...and once the Soviet Union ended, they tracked all those people that they had trained and killed all of them except for me...though they tried." She closed her eyes and sighed. "But in between that time, they taught us to be monsters. We were raised to kill. We _wanted_ to kill. I can still remember them sending me on my first mission to kill a normal civilian. I was so excited that I got to kill my first person. I never really thought about how these people had lives just like every other person. Like me...and then"

Clint interrupted her. "...and then I came along and set everything right and now here you are, saving the world from evil creatures." He waved his arms dramatically, and Natasha glared at him. But Clint knew she appreciated his sense of humor.

She continued from where he had interrupted her. "those people that I killed...they come back every so often to haunt me. I can still see their faces, crying, bleeding, begging for me not to kill them." She covered her eyes with her hands, and gave a small groan of exasperation. "That's what I saw down there. Don't ask me why it happened because I'm not sure. But I didn't see you. I saw somebody I had killed."

Clint nodded, noticing how she seemed to be getting paler and her face drooped with exhaustion. "Tasha. Don't think about it. Block it out. Like I am. You know I killed helpless people too."

"But that was different...Loki!"

Clint clapped a hand to her mouth and pushed her down onto her back. Then he grinned at her. "That's better. Good night!" He left the room quickly, and shut the door.

**So what do you think? I'd love to hear what you think about this...in fact, I think I'll do it this way: 10 reviews for last chapter=new chapter! If you really want to see where this story goes, then review! Don't be shy. :D**


	3. Nightmares

**Hey guys! I hope you enjoy this chapter. It gets a little intense. I just wanted to note that I am starting another Avengers fanfic at the same time, so check my profile soon to read it! :D You guys are great and I love the encouragement I've been getting. Thank you!**

_Then he grinned at her. "That's better. Good night!" He left the room quickly, and shut the door._

But it was not better. He knew that. There was something seriously wrong with her, and all he knew was that she was haunted by the people she had killed. He sensed that she hadn't told him the complete truth, though he had never seen her open up so much to him. He leaned against the wall and sighed heavily. It was not often things affected him to the point where he broke out emotionally, but ever since Loki had taken hold of his mind, he didn't seem to have as much control over himself as he had before.

"Sir?" Clint looked up to see a nurse smiling awkwardly at him.

"Yeah?" He shifted his weight off the wall, and crossed his arms.

"Mr. Stark requested we take a look at that bruise on your forehead." The nurse replied.

Clint frowned. "I don't have a bruise." He rubbed his forehead and immediately winced. "Oh, that bruise. It's fine. I can take care of it." He began to walk away, and the nurse shook her head and spoke into the comm link on her ear.

Clint rolled his eyes as he overhead her talking to Stark. He peaked into Natasha's room, and seeing her asleep, walked in and sat down in the chair next to her bed.

-AVENGERS ASSEMBLE-

_A hideous man appeared out of nowhere with a bullet wound in his stomach. He was clutching the wound while hobbling towards her. She tried to get her gun but her arms would not move. She watched, trying to keep calm, as the furious man snarled and crept up to her. She felt his fingers dig into her chest and she screamed in agony as her whole body exploded in pain. She opened her eyes for a second to see him holding her heart dripping blood in one hand. The man looked at it curiously and then squeezed it. Blood streamed down, and she could feel it splattering her face. The blood ran down into her mouth and ears. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block out the words that suddenly came out of nowhere and echoed over and over again in her head. "Love is for children. I owe him a debt." Then the man collapsed on the ground, dead from the bullet wound, and the whole ground where he fell burst into flames. The flames swept over her, and she screamed in agony again curling and uncurling in horrible pain. _

_Then everything went black and the pain subsided. Clint appeared out of nowhere, and she began to run to him. Suddenly a mirror appeared in front of her blocking her view of Barton, and she recoiled in shock. Her reflection in the mirror showed the skin on her face, arms, and chest peeling off slowly, revealing bones and blood. She screamed and touched her face with both hands. Immediately her whole body burst into pain, and she took her hands off quickly only to see them disintegrate into ash. She screamed for Clint, and curled on the ground, looking at her handless arms helplessly. _

_To her surprise and relief, Clint broke through the mirror and ran to her side. She looked at him, and then struggled to her feet and began to run away from him. His face was hard and it was apparent he did not recognize her. But the thing that scared her worse than anything else she had ever seen was his eyes. They were a bright blue that were so different from his normal brown eyes. He drew an arrow and placed it against his bow. He drew back the arrow and shot it at her. It hit her in the back, and she looked down to see the arrow head poking out of her stomach. She stared at it in a helpless shock and then collapsed to the ground. She whispered Clint's name, and he looked down at her. His eyes were his natural brown and tears were streaming down his face. She watched his face silently as he took out his knife and held it up. Then she gasped as he drove the knife down into her stomach again and again. Still she wouldn't die. _

"_Natasha!" she heard Clint shouting her name._

She woke up to see Clint bent over her with several nurses racing around hurriedly. A loud beeping noise hurt her ears, and she choked to regain her breath. She tried to sit up, trying to breathe, but Clint pushed her down again.

She struggled to sit up again. If she didn't she would surely suffocate. "Sit up!" She finally choked out. Clint understood and allowed her to sit up slowly. She closed her eyes, concentrating on breathing. A wave of dizziness swept over her, and she clutched the sides of the bed as the room spun around.

"Tasha?" Clint said softly.

She nodded. "I'm fine." Soon the room came back into focus, and she let out a sigh of relief.

"No, you aren't fine." Clint said slowly, looking down at her chest.

She looked down and saw small puddles of blood dribbling down from her chin. She looked up at Clint, wide-eyed.

A doctor hurried into the room and headed for Natasha. He didn't make eye contact with her or even speak but just busied himself taking her pulse and taking a sample of the blood Natasha coughed up. She looked down to see a nurse rubbing something on her arm. Then the nurse pushed a needle into her arm and taped it there. She hooked it to the cord running up to the IV stand, and Natasha groaned softly. Already this place was reminding her of things she would prefer not to remember.

She saw Clint being led out of the room against his will. He didn't struggle very much remembering what happened the day before, but he was protesting at the top of his lungs. Natasha watched him go until a nurse blocked her view. Then everything became a blur of a nightmare.


	4. Enigma

Clint was pushed out of the room and had the door closed in his face. He sighed and turned around to see Tony and the rest of the Avengers sitting or standing right outside the door. He gave a small nod, hoping they hadn't seen him struggling with the nurses.

"Legolas." Tony said in greeting. He stood up and whacked Clint's arm, and then paused and began scrutinizing Clint's swollen bruise where he had hit him the day before. Clint's reflexes took over at how close Tony was standing, and before he even knew he had done it, Tony was spinning into the wall.

Tony groaned and rubbed the side of his face. "Forgiven, though I just might not invite you to my next celebration."

Steve frowned and stood up offering his seat to Clint who sat down wearily. "Sorry, Stark." He said, rubbing a hand across his face. "Just haven't been myself lately."

"You alright?" Steve asked, crossing his arms and glancing at the nurses and doctors that kept popping in and out of Natasha's room. Clint nodded silently.

"How is she doing?"

Clint winced. "Internal bleeding..."

Everyone's faces fell immediately, and Banner nodded, taking off his glasses, "So her blood pressure probably went up drastically. Most likely because of stress or shock...anything like that happening to her lately?"

"Yeah..." he paused, "She'll be killing me for saying this later." He winced inwardly thinking, _"What if there is no later for her?"_

"Barton?" Steve asked. "What is it?"

"Her memories from her early past...they are coming back to her. She was hallucinating back there in the gym. She didn't see me. She saw a person she had killed."

Tony nodded thoughtfully. "But why would her memories be causing this condition?"

"She isn't sleeping." Clint said simply. "I can hear her walking by in the hall all night long. I can't remember a time when I didn't wake up and hear her walking up and down the hall."

Bruce rubbed his chin. "So you think she isn't sleeping because of her memories, and therefore the lack of sleep and the stress and shock of the memories is contributing to this."

Clint nodded.

"So know what?" Steve asked.

"To recover faster, it would make the most sense to make it as easy as possible which means trying to block out her memories." Tony looked up at the ceiling for a minute, whispering to himself, and then walked out of the room.

"Where are you going?" Steve asked.

"Out for coffee." Steve and Clint looked at each other.

Bruce shook his head. "He means his lab."

The soldier and the archer both sighed. Tony was a real enigma, and the only two who could solve him were Bruce and Pepper.

"Agent Barton, you can see her now."

The three stood up and walked to the door. Who cared if the nurse had just called Clint?

-AVENGERS ASSMBLE-

Natasha zoned in and out of consciousness, not opening her eyes but just listening to the confused mess of voices and beeps.

"_Doctor, she is regaining conscious again." The voice sounded far away._

"_Put her under again." This voice was much closer and then she felt a cold hand on her forehead._

"_What temperature?"_

"_101.7 It's lowered a bit."_

_She felt a sharp sting in her arm, and then the voices began to fade away slowly._

-AVENGERS ASSEMBLE-

Clint and the other two opened the door and walked in. The many doctors in the room nodded at them, but did not stop with their work. Clint watched as they took various blood samples, took temperatures, wrote down her heartbeat, and many other things. His eyes fell on Natasha's limp hand that was hanging off the bed. It was so pale, paler than before and there was blood on it from where she had touched her bloody chest. He took it and massaged it slowly.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" Steve asked.

A nurse looked at her clipboard before answering. "From all the signs we have been picking up on, we think her condition mainly has to do with an extreme amount of stress and shock. When her blood pressure spiked, a blood vessel burst, and that's what caused the internal bleeding."

Steve and Clint exchanged glances, and then looked at Banner. He gave them a half smile and then looked down at his feet.

"Tell them, Banner." Clint said.

Banner nodded. "We already figured out the internal bleeding was caused by severe stress and shock. Partly why this happened was lack of sleep. Barton says she is hardly ever sleeping because of memory issues. I think if she is able to block out the memories, it will help to solve the other problems."

A doctor turned to Clint. "Are you sure she hasn't been sleeping? We haven't been picking up on many signs of fatigue."

Clint shrugged. "She's the Black Widow. She is at the peak of human condition. She could go for weeks with just three hours of sleep and act like she had slept fine her whole life."

The doctor nodded. "That's definitely a lead."

Banner frowned thoughtfully. "Another thing that is rather odd is how fast these things occurred. She was fine right before that incident in the gym, so what caused her body to suddenly react like that over a small bit of exercise?"

"Actually, I don't think she was fine." Clint said quietly. "She was in the gym almost all day with me before that incident, and she wasn't doing half as well as she usually does."

"So you think she was trying to hide her condition?"

"Would make sense. If she told anyone about it, she would consider it a sign of weakness."

The three doctors in the room looked at each other, confused. It almost looked like the three superheroes could solve her problem without any need for a medical staff. One of them coughed awkwardly, "We just did everything we could for her, so we will be going back to the other hospital."

Clint and Banner nodded, and Steve stood up politely from his chair as two of the nurses walked out of the room.

Steve sat down again, and they were all silent for a while, thinking about various things. Suddenly they were jolted from their thoughts by a blood curdling scream.

"Natasha!" Clint yelled.


	5. Opening Up

**Hey guys! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**I have a question for you guys: "Who is your favorite Avenger and why?"**

**My two favorite are Natasha and Clint. I love their fighting skills, and their relationship in the Avengers. They are just good friends: a team. Plus, I have red hair like Natasha. :D**

"_Natasha!" Clint yelled._

Natasha was sitting up stiff, trembling and breathing quickly. Her eyes roved around the room desperately as if she was looking for someone. Her eyes fell on Clint, and she relaxed just a bit.

"Tasha. You're safe." Clint slowly stood up and walked over to her side. She just stared at him, trembling slightly.

Steve walked over to stand beside Clint and said softly, "You know I once woke up to find myself in what I thought at the moment was a small room much like a hospital. I had thought I was dead, and here I was...alive and strong in a strange room. I thought I was going to die for real this time, I was so confused and shocked. After I woke up, I would often find myself dreaming about the war...World War II. I would feel like I was almost back again and fighting with my friend, Bucky, and all the other soldiers. I saw Bucky fall of the train. I saw Hydra seeming to melt to death from the Tesseract. They were all horrible memories. But the worst thing was dreaming about the person I loved the most. She is still alive. In a retirement home. She is 93...and here I am still looking like I'm in my twenties."

Steve paused and looked at Natasha. She had closed her eyes and was breathing heavily. "I would often dream about meeting her again. What we would say...what we would do. But it always turned out a nightmare. She would slowly slip away, and I couldn't find her. Then she would die...and I never got to dance with her. That was my worst nightmare. I had the hardest time blocking it out until I found out the only way to really block it out was to accept that it might happen and trust that it won't happen."

Steve sighed and walked out of the room then without saying anything more. Clint and Bruce looked at each other grimly. They had never really thought about hard it must have been for Steve to suddenly wake up after seventy years, and thinking about Tony making fun of him for being behind the times suddenly didn't seem funny but horrible.

Natasha opened her eyes just then. "Never thought about him like that." She whispered. Clint glanced at her quickly. She looked better now. She wasn't trembling, and her body seemed much more relaxed.

"It would have been nice if Tony could have heard that speech." Bruce said.

Clint nodded and looked at Natasha again. She was staring at Banner with an odd expression on her face. It looked something like fear or confusion. "Tasha?" He asked quietly.

She turned her head to him, but her eyes remained on Banner. Bruce shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. Clint noticed she was turning white and sweat was beginning to form on her forehead. Suddenly he remembered how Natasha had always gotten flustered whenever the Hulk was mentioned.

"Banner," Clint motioned to the door. Bruce nodded and quickly walked out of the room. Natasha's eyes followed him and closed once he was out the door. The two partners sat in silence for a while, both thinking about various things.

Clint looked up and watched Natasha who was looking down at her fingers. "You're afraid of the Hulk." He said.

She glared at him. "Why do you say that?"

"The way you were looking at him just now."

"He's a common visitor in my nightmares...if that's what you want to call them."

Clint frowned. "Why, Tasha?"

In a barely audible whisper, she said, "It frightens me that I can't kill him." Clint squeezed her shoulder, and she frowned at him.

"Sorry, Nat."

"What about?" A voice from behind Clint interrupted loudly.

"Stark." Clint greeted.

Tony slapped him in the shoulder in greeting and then turned to Natasha. "How's the ailing assassin?" Natasha glared.

Tony turned to a computer on one side of the room and began typing in passwords and signals. "So Miss Romanoff, from looking at you heart rate, pressure, and sleeping habits, it seems like your problem is a mental one. So as soon as I can create the moderated bond between the arch reactor and the..."

"Stark. That's enough." Steve closed the door behind him and walked over to Clint.

Tony glanced at Natasha and Clint and saw a look on their faces he couldn't really admit he liked.

"Barton, you haven't gotten much rest. I suggest you let one of us stay with Romanoff, and you go rest." Steve crossed his arms, a stubborn gesture that showed he meant what he said.

Clint cracked his back, and then turned to Steve. "I'm fine Rodgers." He looked at Natasha.

"I don't see why you need to stay...any of you. I'm fine." Natasha spoke up.

Tony nodded sarcastically. "Right..." He said. "Let's do it this way. Legolas will get rest even if he doesn't want to, the Star Spangled Banner will stay here with you and keep you company, and the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist will go back to his lab."

Clint bit his lip angrily and walked out of the room without another word. Steve nodded and sat down, and Tony followed Clint out the door.

Natasha sighed and put on a forced smile. "Who is this girl you were talking about, Rodgers?" She asked.

-AVENGERS ASSEMBLE-

Clint crept up to his floor using back ways and hallways most people didn't know about. He was frustrated that so many people were separating him from Natasha. He and Nat were a team, and they stayed together as much as possible. Some people might mistake this for love, but he thought and he knew Natasha also thought of their relationship as just friends. Nothing else.

He made his way up the last flight of stairs and onto his floor, which was right above Natasha's. His room was much larger and had more space. He also had an extra room for target practice. Tony had designed a special training system that included shooting bullets while showing a target that he had to shoot in two seconds, targets that were so small that most people had a hard time even seeing them, and a complex routine that included shooting objects without looking, relying on sound to shoot.

Clint made his way to this room now and picked up a bow. This was much better than resting. He programmed the system to a specific routine, and then got his bow ready. Three seconds later he was shooting targets almost before they appeared.


	6. Worry

**Hey ya'll! Hope you enjoy this chapter. There is a sudden twist in the plot, leaving Natasha in even more danger than before. Read and Review!**

Natasha's eyelids drooped with exhaustion, but she continued to talk to Steve since she didn't want to fall asleep while he was sitting there. Steve was currently describing how much more moral life was back during World War II. Twenty minutes later, Steve was still wrapped up in talking about life back then.

"It's so dif-" Steve was saying, but Natasha finally interrupted him.

"Rodgers, I really need to rest now. I appreciate you spending your time here."

"Oh, right. Sorry, ma'am." Steve blushed, realizing how long he had been talking, and picking up his jacket, walked out of the room. He quietly shut the door, and Natasha immediately sighed and lay back against the pillows. Her body was already half asleep, but her mind was trying to force herself awake again. She needed rest, but at the same time, she didn't want to sleep for fear of what would happen during her sleep.

Finally, her body won over, and she slipped into a deep sleep.

-AVENGERS ASSEMBLE-

Clint shot the last target, and wiped a hand across his sweaty forehead. The workout had helped him calm down and relax. He considered starting a new round, but looking at the clock, realized he had been shooting for almost three hours. It was time he went down to Natasha again.

He slipped out the door of the archery room and ran down the stairs to the medical floor. He softly opened Natasha's door and saw her sleeping calmly for the first time in months. He walked over to the chair next to her bed and sat down. She looked so peaceful and vulnerable. So different from when she was in action.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. He had to admit he was tired, but sleep could wait till she was doing better. He recalled the many times they would wait for the other in the medical room, waiting for the other person to wake up. He remembered the time he had slipped into a small coma after getting hit on the head extremely hard and Natasha had waited by his side for three days, not leaving once. And there were the many times he had waited by her side as she struggled through some painful injury. It was just the natural thing for them to do.

Slowly, without even realizing it, Clint began to doze off.

"ALL AVENGERS TO MEETING ROOM 97. REPEAT ROOM 97."

Clint jerked awake in a second and immediately stood up. He turned around to the now awake Natasha. "You think you can make it?" He asked abruptly.

Natasha nodded to the closet. "My suit is in there." She slipped out of bed, and, ripping off the tape on her arm, slid the IV out quickly. Clint hastily turned off the IV machine and then picked up her black suit.

"You aren't going on the mission, Natasha. Just to the meeting."

"Nick Fury say that?"

"No, but he will once he knows how sick you are."

Natasha looked him in the eye. "I'm fine. Really."

"No, you aren't, Tasha. Less than a day ago you were coughing up blood!" Clint crossed his arms.

"Not like I haven't done so during a mission before!"

"But we got you to a medical field immediately! We didn't take you on another mission."

Natasha knew she was losing the fight. "I'll go to the meeting, and we'll see how it goes from there." She turned around and picked up her skin-tight suit on the edge of the bed. Clint left the room somewhat angrily and waited for her to put on her suit.

A minute later, Natasha came out and shut the door behind her. "Let's go." She said and walked towards the stairs.

Clint groaned exasperatedly. "At least take the elevator!" He begged.

Natasha gave him a murder look and then headed towards the elevator.

-AVENGERS ASSEMBLE-

Nick Fury and Agent Hill were waiting in the meeting room for all the Avengers to appear. Steve, known as Captain America during missions, had immediately headed for the meeting room and got there a few minutes after the notice had been issued. Tony had made his way there, taking his time, but still getting there in a fairly good time. Banner got there at the same time as Tony, and nobody knew when Thor would be turning up as he was in Asgard.

Everyone sat down and waited impatiently for Clint and maybe Natasha depending on how she was. Two minutes later they finally arrived, and the meeting began.

Nick Fury stood up slowly and looked around sternly. "I'll get straight down to the point. There have been many nuclear scientists disappearing all over the world. We haven't heard a word from any of these scientists since. We suspect they are being killed and hidden, but that isn't a solid fact yet. This is the man we suspect behind the disappearances."

Fury held up a picture of the man. He was cruel looking with a thin, jagged face, glasses, and greasy dark hair. "This, my friends, is Dr. Draxes. He is a nuclear scientist that S.H.I.E.L.D. has been following closely for a while now. We want you to bring him in to headquarters alive, if possible."

Steve nodded thoughtfully. "Where is he now?"

"That's the difficult thing. Dr. Draxes is in Belgorod, Russia...that is where we need Barton and Romanoff." Natasha cast a side look at Clint. She was obviously essential to this mission since she was the only one who spoke Russian fluently. Clint looked upset and worried.

"and the rest of us?" Steve asked.

"We need you to track Dr. Draxes' friend in Moscow. He is definitely teaming up with Draxes on something."

Banner took off his glasses. "What is his friend like?"

Fury held up another picture. This picture showed a small, thin man with a jagged scar running across his face. "Any questions?" He asked.

Clint leaned forward. "Sir, I don't think Romanoff is able to participate in this mission."

Fury frowned. "Why do you say that?"

Natasha glared at Clint. "What he is trying to say was I had a bad day yesterday, but I'm fine now." The Avengers looked at each other doubtfully.

"Then it's all settled. You all will be on your way in two hours. Meet at headquarters in an hour for more details and equipment."

"SIR!" Clint snapped, standing up.

Fury raised his eyebrows. "Yes, Agent Barton."

"Agent Romanoff is in a more serious condition than you realize."

Natasha glared angrily. "I don't need someone standing up for me. I think I should know how capable I am of doing anything."

"Apparently not! Nat, I thought you were smarter than this."

Natasha rolled her eyes "Well, I'm sorry if I've let you down." She said sarcastically. The three other Avengers present watched as Natasha and Clint battled back and forth.

Nick Fury finally intervened. "WILL somebody please tell me what is going on! Agent Barton. Romanoff, you are excused from the meeting."

Natasha stalked out of the room, and shut the door behind her. She did admit that she wasn't as well as she would have liked, but it wasn't like she was on chemotherapy or anything!

Clint waited until the door closed, and then turned to Fury. "Sir, Agent Romanoff has been in the medical floor for almost two days now for lack of sleep and internal bleeding caused by high blood pressure. She isn't strong enough to do this mission."

Fury frowned. "That doesn't sound too bad. She's been in much worse conditions."

"There's more to it than that, sir."

"We don't have time to go into detail about it now. Sorry, Barton, but she is going on the mission. She doesn't have to do any fighting, but we do need her to communicate to the doctor." Clint frowned angrily, but nodded. "Good. I'll see you all in an hour."

Fury left with Agent Hill right behind him. Clint stood up angrily and walked out after them. He saw Natasha pacing outside. "You're in." He said abruptly.

Natasha didn't look at him, but just stared in front of her at the wall. "What's gotten into you?" She finally asked.

Clint shrugged. "Lack of missions? I'll get over it."

Natasha smiled slightly. "Come on. Let's get ready."

**Exciting! What's going to happen to Natasha? **


	7. Disguise

_A small note: When people are talking in italics, it means they are speaking in French._

Exactly an hour later, the Avengers were walking through the glass doors of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s headquarters. Agent Hill was waiting for them a few steps away from the entrance.

"Follow me." She said and began walking down a long hallway streaming with S.H.I.E.L.D. workers. They followed her down the hallway, into another corridor on the left, and into a small room on the right. Nick Fury was sitting down at a large table that filled up the whole room.

Agent Hill walked out of the room and closed the doors behind her. The Avengers sat down in the leather chairs around the table.

Fury looked around at them. "Any questions before I dive into details?" He asked.

Steve frowned slightly. "How long should this mission take?"

"Depends on how many more friends Dr. Draxes has. It could only take a day, but that's really up to how much of a fight he puts up. We will be picking you up four days from now unless there is an emergency."

"...and why is it that you are using us instead of some of your agents?" Banner asked.

"This isn't just another little mission that a couple of spies can carry out. This person is working in the nuclear field. He could be planning anything from blowing up all of the United States, to blowing up the entire world."

"So you want us to arrest him and bring him back to S.H.I.E.L.D. for interrogation along with his friend."

"Exactly. Now here's the plan..."

-AVENGERS ASSEMBLE-

Half an hour later, the Avengers were ready to board the aircraft taking them to Russia. It was going to be a complicated mission with many risks, and Clint was becoming more and more doubtful on whether Natasha should even be there with them on this mission.

He watched Natasha as she adjusted her gloves and weapons. She seemed fine though she was a little pale. But what would happen when night fell and she needed sleep? Clint sighed and took off his quiver full of arrows. He adjusted the arrows in it, and then slung it back on his shoulder. He saw Tony boarding the plane with Banner and Steve right behind him.

"Come on." He turned to Natasha, but she was already walking onto the plane. He quickly followed her up onto the plane. It was exactly like the aircraft he had been on with Loki when he had blown up the helicarrier.

"Oh, great." He muttered under his breath.

Natasha beckoned to the pilot seat next to her. "Let's try to get there before the day is over."

Clint gave her one of his best angry looks and then sat down in the seat and immediately started switching buttons and typing in codes. "First stop is Moscow."

Fury watched as the aircraft took off into the air. Then he turned around and walked into the building again. "Agent Hill, do you copy?"

"Sir?"

"Get our communications up immediately. We're going to need them."

-AVENGERS ASSEMBLE-

A few hours later, a remarkably fast aircraft was seen landing on an airport field in Moscow. Three tourists dressed in normal civilian clothes with various types of baggage walked out, and the plane immediately took off again.

"Now what?" Steve asked, pulling a hat down low over his eyes.

"We find a hotel. Any of you know the Russian word for 'hotel'?" Tony replied. He was dressed in a thick coat to block out the snow that was rapidly falling and wore a hat much like Steve's.

"Come on." Steve sighed and walked off the landing field. Banner and Stark followed him.

Four security guards walked up to them and stopped them. "What are you doing!" One of them exclaimed in English but with a heavy Russian accent.

Tony held up the S.H.I.E.L.D. identification cards for them all. "Official business with S.H.I.E.L.D." The security guards nodded for them to move on.

"You know a hotel we can stay at?"

-AVENGERS ASSEMBLE-

Natasha and Clint landed at Belgorod twenty minutes later. They quickly walked off the aircraft with a few small pieces of luggage and paused. A S.H.I.E.L.D. pilot had been ordered to ride with them, and once they arrived at Belgorod, fly the plane back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters.

Clint leaned in to Natasha. "Remind me again why Fury decided to abandon us here."

Natasha just smirked and watched as the plane rose again into the air. "Let's get this over with." She whipped the hair out of her eyes and took out a small, transparent glass rectangle from her coat pocket. Clint watched as she turned it on and began typing in coordinates and searching for maps. A minute later, she looked up and pointed to a direction where many people were walking around in what looked like a market. "His lab is a few blocks in that direction."

"Where is he now?" Clint had to shout over the rising wind that suddenly soared out of nowhere.

"Right now he is..." She enlarged the map and squinted at it. "...at a large dinner party at the house of Dr. Ibyl and his wife."

Clint nodded. "Perfect. You have anything to wear to a dinner?"

Natasha raised her eyebrows and tilted her head to the side. "I'll wear something if you wear a tux." She looked back down at the map. "Our room is in an expensive hotel very close to the party."

"What cover should we put on this time?" Clint grinned slightly. Natasha hated disguising herself.

Natasha shrugged. "You can think up one of your crazy ideas. Right now let's go." They started walking towards the outside market with Natasha walking slightly in front.

Two minutes later, Clint spoke up. "I am Andrew Bartoni, and you are my newly-wedded wife, Marie. We are currently on our honeymoon."

"I'm assuming we are from France then." She frowned at him.

"_But of course!"_ He exclaimed in a perfect French accent.

"_Very well, my handsome husband!" _She replied in an also perfect accent_. _She stepped close to Clint and hooked her arm through his. Clint knew she had already taken up her role as Marie Bartoni, and he grinned. Natasha was truly amazing when it came to transforming her character. He looked down at her and couldn't help a small laugh. Her eyes were wide and sparkling, her lips were parted slightly, making her look completely innocent, and with one toss of her hair, she had made herself look like a young eighteen-year old, excited at the prospect of having married a handsome, romantic husband.

"_You are truly amazing, beautiful bride. But where is our apartment?"_

She looked around, as if seeing the market for the first time. _"Oh! It is over this way, I think!"_

"_Let us hurry. We don't want to be late for the celebration."_

She quickened her step. _"It is right here!" _Clint looked up from pretending to adoringly watch his 'bride.' In front of them was a beautifully designed hotel that almost didn't fit into its surroundings. Clint looked at her, and raised an eyebrow suggestively.

"_Shall we go inside, my dear?"_

Natasha giggled and blushed nervously, but at the same time, scanning her surroundings, calculating the nearest exit, and watching the people. _"Of course!" _She replied.

Clint opened the glass door for her, and then followed her in. It was truly an expensive hotel with lots of velvet and gold. There was a desk on his left, and he walked over to it. The clerk at the desk looked up at him with a fake smile. "Hello?" He greeted in Russian.

Clint looked at Natasha, and she walked up next to him. He had a hard time not smiling as she started speaking in Russian but with a French accent. "We have a room...maybe under the name of Fury?"

The clerk paused for a second and then nodded. "Your room number is 1008." He handed them a key, and Natasha and Clint walked off, pretending to whisper to each other excitedly. They got on the elevator and Clint pressed the button to the tenth floor.

"_How much did you understand?"_ Natasha asked curiously.

"_I figured out most of it. We had a room booked under the name of Fury, and our room number was 1008." _

Natasha put on a sweet smile as the elevator doors slid open. Clint stepped off and held the elevator door open for her. She gave him a small kiss on the cheek in return, and then followed him down the hallway to the room with the number eight printed on the door.

Clint opened the door for her. _"After you, dear!" _ Natasha giggled and hurried inside. Clint followed her in, and shut and locked the door behind him. Immediately, Natasha's smile faded, and her lips set in a firm line.

"How much time do you think we have before the party ends?" She asked, returning to English.

Clint took off his heavy shoes and set them by the door. "I think we should hurry and get it over with."

Natasha nodded and hurried into the bathroom with her small bag of various types of clothes. Clint looked around briefly, and groaned. Of course Fury would have booked the honeymoon suit. There was only one bed in the middle of the room, two sofas over on one side which Clint already decided to sleep on, and there was a mirror on the other side that took up the entire wall. Various roses and perfumes filled the solid surfaces, and the bed, itself, must have had at least three blankets, a gold tinted duvet cover, and a curtain that surrounded the bed.

Clint sighed and began changing into the suit he had brought with him. Years of missions with S.H.I.E.L.D. taught him to bring clothes for almost every situation.

Meanwhile in the bathroom, Natasha was slipping on a dark blue, strapless, low-cut dress that had thousands of sparkles all over it. The back of the dress was even more revealing than the front with a back that barely covered her back. She put up her hair quickly in a simple, but beautiful hairdo that curled around the back of her head. Then she applied a small amount of makeup, and perfumed herself.

It would take a lot of convincing that underneath the white gloves she wore were several knifes, and that on each of her legs was strapped a gun. She also had hidden another knife in her hairdo.

Natasha looked at the clock. She had gotten ready in five minutes. It was time to go. She strapped on ridiculously tall heels, and attached diamond earrings that glittered in the light. She looked like a beautiful, young girl who knew nothing about death.

"Clint, are you ready?" She called out opening the door.

"Almost!" Clint replied, putting on his coat. He had slicked back his hair, also making him look like he had just turned twenty. Natasha smiled, and took out of her bag, a fur coat and a purse. In the purse was already stored a gun and some other weapons that she thought might be useful.

"You feeling alright so far?" Clint asked.

"Just a headache. I'll be fine." Natasha replied. It was true that she had a headache, but she also was feeling a little dizzy. It would pass though. Or so she thought.

Clint looked at her for a second and then walked to the door.

"_Shall we go?" _He asked.

"_By all means!"_

**Longer chapter this time! Please Read and Review. I also have a question for my readers. **_**Where would you like this story to go? **_**There are many ways for this story to follow. If you have any ideas, feel free to review or PM me.**

**One more thing, I also started a fanfic on Natasha's early life. Some of the dreams she has been having in this fanfic will be showing up in there, so if you are enjoying this fanfic, I would suggest you go over and read that one too! :D**


	8. Failing

Tony threw his stuff on the hotel bed and collapsed down on top of it. "Don't ever make me walk five miles to a decent hotel again." He groaned. "My feet are killing me!"

Banner sat down next to him and took off his shoes. "You'll have to remember, Steve that not all of us can walk for miles without a second's rest."

Steve, looking perfectly fit as usual, opened his mouth to reply, but Tony held up his hand. "Rest first. Then mission."

"Hold on. We came here to complete a mission, and we need to do it as quickly as possible. You have your suit and Banner doesn't need to go anywhere unless we really need him, so I suggest we get started immediately." Steve frowned.

"All right! All right! Don't get upset. We'll go." Tony groaned and slowly moved off the bed.

"Where is the tracking device?" Steve asked.

Tony rolled his eyes. "You mean the customized GPS on my phone?" Steve chose to ignore his comment and watched as Tony took his phone out of his pocket and began typing in the S.H.I.E.L.D. code. Banner also got off the bed and opened his luggage. He took out transparent screen and turned it on. Immediately, a long list of codes sprang up, and Banner scrolled through them, muttering from time to time.

"He's at a hotel a couple blocks from here. Not a five-star hotel, but still pretty good for a top-class villain's friend." Tony looked up and raised his eyebrows at Steve.

"Suit up."

-AVENGERS ASSEMBLE-

Natasha and Clint headed quickly to the dinner party. Natasha went over the plan in her head over and over again, trying to find any errors in it. It was a habit she had required a while ago, and even though it was a good habit, it could be annoying sometimes. The plan was for Natasha to go in and find the target, seduce him into following her out to the garden, and for Clint to meet her there. It was a simple plan that wouldn't need much work, but one small slip up and the whole mission would collapse.

"_Is this it?"_ Clint whistled admiringly at the tall white building in front of them. It had obviously been built very recently built as it was very modern and up to date compared to the rest of the houses in the neighborhood.

"_I guess so." _Natasha turned the small hidden mic behind her ear on and then turned to Clint. _"You got your comm on?"_

Clint pressed the small switch on the mic and then grinned. _"Now I do. You ready?"_

Natasha smirked. _"This is going to be a lot easier than I thought! Meet at the rendezvous point."_

"_Right." _Clint drew Natasha in close and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Natasha rolled her eyes. _"Definitely wasn't necessary."_

"_It was definitely worth it to see the look on your face!" _Clint smirked.

Natasha turned without another word, giving him one more exasperated look, and walked up the white stairs to the elaborate doorway to Dr. Draxes' house party. She saw a guard at the door, and she immediately put on a distressed look by widening her eyes and opening her mouth slightly, letting the ends droop down. She reached the guard, and paused, making sure he noticed her eyes, brimming with tears.

The guard shifted uncomfortably, and held out a hand. "May I please see your invitation?" He asked in a heavy Russian accent.

Natasha grabbed his arm tightly and burst into tears, speaking in broken Russian, "Oh, sir! Please! I've lost my invitation along the way, and I traveled all the way from France for the party. Please let me in!"

The guard continued to shift uncomfortably, watching her tears splatter onto his elegant red uniform. "What is your name, young lady?" He asked, hesitantly.

"Marie Bartoni."She replied in a heavy French accent, still sobbing.

She heard Clint's voice in her ear. _"Tell him your husband is inside waiting for you. I've slipped into the party through a second floor window. I'll be there in a second."_

She flung herself on the guard, sobbing even more. "Oh, please let me in! My husband is inside, and he will be so upset!"

The guard struggled to pull her off of him, blushing furiously. "Wait here. I will get your husband. What is his name?"

"Andrew Bartoni!" She sobbed into his jacket. The guard nodded and after forcefully pulling her off, walked inside, straightening his jacket.

As soon as he was out of sight, Natasha sighed and straightened her hair, careful to still keep the appearance of a distressed young woman who desperately wants to get into a party. Her headache was steadily growing worse, so it was not hard for her to pretend to be distressed. Two minutes later, the guard came back with Clint right behind him, looking a little puzzled.

"Is this your husband?" The guard began to ask, but stopped as he saw Clint and Natasha rush for each other and hug and kiss each other repeatedly.

Natasha began to wail again. "Oh, Andrew! I lost my invitation, and I don't know where it is!"

Clint patted her on the back sympathetically. "Marie, Marie! Remember what the doctor said. You shouldn't be getting so distressed or worked up! Please calm down." Clint nodded at the guard. "I'll take her in now. Is that alright?"

The guard waved them on, trying to smile but failing miserably. Clint put an arm around Natasha's waist and led her into the entryway. As soon as the door closed behind them, Natasha pushed him off. _"We shouldn't be seen together. I am now a single woman, understand? You are my brother. Now get back to the garden. We've wasted enough time as it is."_

She watched as Clint slipped down the hallway into a room she assumed he had gotten into the house from. As soon as he disappeared, she straightened her dress, fixed her hair, and then strode into the large room that served as the main room for the party.

She walked seductively; chin raised high and eyebrows raised slightly. She headed for the bar, all the while looking out for Dr. Draxes. Men glanced at her, and some began to follow her to the bar. Natasha saw them and groaned softly. She didn't need to seduce all the men in the party out to the garden. She toned down the sexiness, as she reached the bar, and smiled slightly at the bartender.

"What can I get for the beautiful lady?" The bartender asked.

"Could you get me a red wine?" She asked, deciding to keep it very simple. She didn't like drinking much while on a mission. She turned around so her back was to the bar, and glanced around the crowd. She finally spotted the doctor and spoke into her comm softly, _"I've found him."_

"_Good. Try to get him out of here quickly."_ Natasha smiled, noting Clint's impatience. She watched the doctor as he discussed with a small group of young ladies.

"_This is going to be easy. He seems attracted to young women. I'm going in now."_ Natasha made her way casually, nodding to the various men and women who greeted her. Soon she was just a few feet away from the doctor.

"Dr. Draxes." She called out, hoping he would hear her over the loud noise of people conversing. He turned around, and she saw what she thought was a greedy look come into his eyes as he noticed her beautiful figure and flaming hair.

"Can I do anything for the astonishingly gorgeous lady?" He asked, stepping a little closer.

Natasha smiled, as if charmed by this compliment. "Dr. Draxes, I've heard so much about you!" She exclaimed, touching his arm slightly.

He grinned. "Thank you...?"

"Marie Bartoni. I'm from France. I came here with a few friends of mine." She smiled, stepping a little closer so that her hip was brushing against his leg.

Draxes swept up her hand and kissed it. "It is an honor to meet you, Marie."

"I have many questions to ask you, but they not for places like this. Can we go somewhere more private?" She brushed a hand against his chest, a seductive look on her face.

Draxes smirked. "Of course. Let us go upstairs. It is off limits to visitors."

"How about the garden?" Natasha asked, all the while keeping a seductive look on her face.

"No, many people are out there right now. We will go upstairs." Natasha groaned inwardly as he took her hand and led her through the crowd.

"_I'll try to get upstairs, but be on guard. I don't like the sound of that guy."_ Natasha sighed at Clint's remark. She hated changing the plans.

She went up the stairs, ignoring the angry looks some people gave them as they walked by. It was pretty obvious what it looked like they were going to do. Draxes pulled her down the hallway into a small lounge area. He shut the door and locked it, all the while smiling greedily. The he turned around.

"Now, _Agent Romanoff_, what was it you wanted to ask me?"

Natasha's seductive smile immediately faded into her normal, terrifying Black Widow face as she heard her actual name spoken. She heard a small click behind her, and she whirled around to see twelve guards with guns pointed at her.

"Hands behind your back, Romanoff." Dr. Draxes spat out. Natasha glanced around, noticing there were no windows in the place. Clint would not be able to come in except by the door.

"How did you know?" She asked, her hands on her hips.

Dr. Draxes smirked. "We have our sources. Now I will ask you again. Hands behind your back, or else we will have to."

"_Natasha. Hold on. Don't fight. I'll be there as fast as I can!" _Natasha noted a small amount of panic in Clint's voice.

She slowly put her hands behind her back, all the while glaring angrily. Dr. Draxes laughed. "Good choice. Handcuffs, please?"

Several guards stepped up behind Natasha with handcuffs. But as soon as they touched her wrists, Natasha was in action, twisting, kicking, and slashing violently. At the first movement, her dress tore straight down the sides, allowing her to move easily. She didn't care if it ripped. She had things on underneath.

Soon seven guards were dead, and Natasha only had a small cut on her forehead. She whirled around, watching the last five guards as they paused, waiting for her to take the first move. She noticed Draxes had slipped out while she was killing the guards.

"_Clint!"_ She yelled into her comm link, kicking a guard in the spine so that his back snapped in half. _"I need to you find Draxes. I'll be fine here."_ She spun around violently, at the same time grabbing one of her guns on her leg. Now two more guards were down. Three left.

"_I'm tracking him right now."_

Natasha collapsed to the floor, twisting and kicking as a guard jumped on top of her. She started to roll over, but not fast enough. Another guard punched her in the head.

She let out a small cry of pain. She already had a horrible headache, and now a large bruise on her forehead to top it off. She kicked the guard that was holding her down right in the mouth and then stood slowly, eyeing the last two guards standing.

Suddenly they weren't there anymore. They were two children she had killed while in the Red Room. Their amputated bodies were stitched together again. She screamed, and fell to the floor, curling in a small ball. The two children slowly walked forward. She cried out in pain as they reached down and touched her. It was a burning, searing pain. They dragged her to her feet. She struggled wildly, trying to get away from them, but they were too strong. Then pain exploded like fireworks and she was sinking into the darkness.

-AVENGERS ASSEMBLE-

Steve and Tony had decided on a surprise attack since the hotel was only a few blocks away. Banner had alerted the authorities and the hotel, and they were holding their target down until they got there.

Steve sprinted down the sidewalk, ignoring the surprised looks of astonishment people gave him as he ran by in his Captain America suit with his shield. Stark was probably already there since he had taken off in his suit.

He reached the hotel and ran inside, noting the Russian police cars and ambulances swarming outside. Inside wasn't much better. Policemen were running around, talking into their walkie-talkies. Steve paused for a second and then strode up to the nearest policemen. "Where is Stark?"

The policeman looked up at him, startled, and then pointed to the elevator. "He's on the third floor. Room number ten."

Stark nodded and ran to the stairs. The elevator would take too long. He reached the third floor in fifteen seconds and immediately ran to room ten. He burst inside and immediately stopped, mouth open wide. "Stark. What happened?" He exclaimed.

**Hehe...cliffhanger! **

**...and I just wanted to thank all my reviewers. You guys are awesome...**

**RosalieRowan, Revenger Tigger, BethN, 1monster2, Teshie-Kate, Clkaudiia, When in doubt Smile, Mysterygal5, Iwilldeduceyou, rachaelhighway, Morgan, mellbell12123, richayla, Dancingqueen4life, tokyolove, and all my guest reviewers! Thanks! **

***hugs***

**Btw, be sure to check out my three other Avengers fanfic, **_**The Past, the Present, the Future~ Pain, Suffering, Anguish~ **_**and last of all**_**, What do they do?**_


	9. Suffering

"_I need you to find Draxes. I'll be fine here."_

Clint clenched his fists angrily. Should he leave Natasha fighting or should he continue on with the mission? It sounded like she was managing the situation well, but how many men were left? He could hear moans and angry yells of pain through the mic in his ear, and he finally made up his mind.

"_I'm tracking him right now." _He said abruptly, and with that, turned in the opposite direction of Natasha and ran down the hallway, all the while tracing Dr. Draxes whereabouts on his phone. He glanced out a window and immediately stopped at the sight in front of him. Dr. Draxes was running along with five guards in the direction of an expensive limousine parked on the road. Clint didn't hesitate. He smashed the window open with foot and stepped out of the second-floor window. Then he jumped the twenty feet to the ground, somersaulting on the ground several times as he landed. He winced in pain as he felt his foot snap underneath him. Then, without another thought for his broken foot, sprinted in the direction of Dr. Draxes.

Dr. Draxes was running furiously, still a few yards from the limousine. Clint unsheathed an arrow and aimed at the scientist. "Dr. Draxes, please put your hands up where I can see them." Draxes stopped running and slowly raised his hands, glaring angrily. The guards started advancing cautiously towards Clint, looking uneasily at each other. Clint shook his head as if amused.

Then the guards attacked. Clint used his heavy bow to hit the guards, and soon, all five guards were on the grass, unconscious or dead. He smirked at Draxes who looked horrified. "You need to train your guards better. A child could have done a better uppercut!"

Just then, Clint heard a horrible scream come from his comm. Then there was the sound of a body falling to the floor, then footsteps.

A heavy, masculine voice grunted, _"Come on. Draxes wants her alive for interrogation."_

Clint whirled around to look at Draxes, clenching his fists again. Draxes smirked. "You know you are in a predicament. Either you save Romanoff, or you capture me."

Clint scowled and limped angrily to Draxes. "You're coming with me." But before he could do anything else, a shot rang out, and he fell to the ground, a bullet embedded in his leg. He cried out in pain, clutching his leg. Then he saw stars as the person who shot him hit him with the gun on the head.

-AVENGERS ASSEMBLE-

"_Natasha watched, horrified, as Loki held Clint in a death-grip. Clint was unconscious, slumped over Loki's arm. His forehead was covered in blood, and his clothes were torn and bloody._

"_What are you going to do to him?" Natasha found herself asking._

_Loki smirked at her, his eyes full of mischief. __"__No, I won't touch Barton. Not until I make him kill you! Slowly, intimately, in every way he knows you fear! And when he wakes, he'll have just enough time to see the work he's done, and when he screams, I'll break his skull!__"_

_Natasha's eyes widened and brimmed with tears. "You wouldn't dare!" _

_Loki stepped closer and bent forward, his face a little less than a foot away from her face. "Is this love, Agent Romanoff?"_

_Natasha almost said no, but then she paused, remembering their times together. Was it really love? No, it couldn't be. "We aren't in love." She whispered, still uncertain._

_Loki shook his head slightly. Natasha watched horrified as suddenly Clint stood up from Loki's grip and turned to Natasha, his eyes a bright blue. Natasha screamed, and then Loki and Clint began to disappear._

Natasha stirred slowly, her heart pounding against her chest. She tried to open her eyes, but they seemed weighted down with something. A raging headache made her wince, and her body ached all over. As her mind slowly began to clear, she realized there was a blindfold over her eyes, and that her wrists were tied together. She shifted slowly, trying to figure out how tight the ropes actually were. To her surprise, they weren't tight at all. She slowly and skillfully slipped her wrists out of the rope, and then moved her hands up to untie the blindfold.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Natasha froze. She was disgusted to think she had not thought to listen for any guards, but she kept a cool, haughty mask on. "And why shouldn't I?" She tore the blindfold off coolly and looked up at the guard with a saucy expression.

The guard's smile froze. His hand slowly made its way to his walkie-talkie. "Don't move, Romanoff, unless you wa..."

Natasha kicked his broken body aside after picking up his gun and inspected the small room she was in. There was nothing in it except for cardboard boxes which, when Natasha opened them, had old antiques and useless garbage that Natasha flicked away in disgust. She tested the door and almost burst out laughing when it opened. So much for security! She quietly opened the door and took in her surroundings. She was in a bare, white hallway with no windows are décor.

She limped down the hallway, pausing every few seconds to listen for any signs of anyone. A few yards down, there was another door. She pressed her ear against the door and then recoiled two seconds later. She had heard a voice she would have recognized anywhere. Clint.

In what seemed like less than a second, she had the door open and she was inside, closing the door behind her. There were several guards with their backs to her. In front of them, Clint was slumped against the wall in a small puddle of blood. He flicked his eyes at her quickly to acknowledge her presence. Then he turned his attention back to the guards.

"We will ask you one more time. Why were you at the party and who do you work for?" One of the guards kicked Clint's bloody leg, and Clint sucked in his breath sharply.

Natasha didn't wait another second. She attacked. Two of the guards were down before they even knew what happened to them. The last guard was a large, muscular man who seemed to know what he was doing. Natasha froze as he pulled out his gun and held it to Clint's head. "Make a move and this one is dead."

Natasha watched, furious, as he radioed for more security, all the while keeping an eye on her. Suddenly, Clint twisted the guard's arm, knocking the gun out of his hand, and slammed the guard down on his back. Natasha immediately shot him twice in the head with the gun she had stolen then hurried over to Clint who was breathing heavily, eyes closed. "You alright?" She asked abruptly.

Clint smirked slightly. "How 'bout you?"

"Nothing worth worrying about. Let me see your leg."

Clint moved his leg over so that Natasha could see the small bullet wound with dried blood crusted around it. He grunted as she touched it gingerly. "Didn't let me pull the bullet out."

"Hold tight." Clint sucked in his breath sharply as she yanked the bullet out. Natasha bent over, inspecting the wound closely. "It's infected already. We're going to have to get you medical attention soon."

"Nothing I haven't had before. I'll be fine. Let me see those cuts on your back. They look painful."

Natasha shook her head. "We need to go. They have more security coming. I'll take care of it later." She helped Clint up to his feet and slung his arm around her shoulder. "You think you can walk on it?"

"Should be able to." Clint grunted as he put weight on his broken foot but didn't stop.

"Let's go. We need to contact headquarters about our situation."

"I think it is too late for that now." A thin voice piped up.

Natasha and Clint turned around to see Draxes with too many guards to count, standing in the doorway. "Oh, great..." Clint muttered.

**Not another cliffhanger! I'm so mean to you guys. :/ I'll do better next time! I promise. **

**Btw, for those of you who are wondering what happened to CA and Stark...I'll be focusing the next chapter more on them. ;) Please Review! They encourage me to keep writing.**


	10. Fighting

_Steve burst into the room and immediately stopped, mouth open wide. "Stark. What happened?" He exclaimed._

Stark was sitting in a chair, his armor still on but his mast off, while a medic swiped at his face with a sterile wipe. There were several deep cuts and Steve noticed several bruises beginning to form on various places on his face. When Steve ran into the room, Stark had stood up and shoved the medic away somewhat rudely.

"That bastard had some kind of weapon that looked like something out of one of those Phase II things at S.H.I.E.L.D. The darn guy shot it at me." Tony continued to curse the victim by swearing under his breath until Steve clapped his hands over his ears.

"Will you shut up?!" He shouted at Stark. "I didn't wake up from a 70 year nap to hear a playboy swear major time. Seriously. Cut it out."

Stark stopped abruptly, a little surprised at the outburst, but then he grinned cheekily and swatted Steve's shoulder. "Remind me to introduce you to the 21st century...you're a little behind."

Steve rolled his eyes and turned to look around the room. It was a complete disaster. The bed was in fragments on the floor, the sheets and duvet cover were burned, and the walls were smudged with black marks that looked like bullet holes. He slowly turned around back to Stark, his mood sinking lower every second. "Where did he go?"

Stark motioned to the door with a tilt of his head. "The cops have him."

Steve sighed in relief. "So he didn't escape?"

Stark scoffed and started for the door. "Are you kidding me? I was here. No man gets by me." Steve rolled his eyes for what seemed to be the twentieth time that day and followed Stark out the door. They headed to the main floor where the captive was being held in a small, private room for the people who worked at the hotel.

Steve opened the door to the room and frowned at the sight of the man he recognized from the picture, struggling and cursing with the policemen. But before he could do anything, Stark strolled up the man and slapped him on the face. "That is for hitting me with whatever that weapon was."

The man frowned and spat out something in Russian. By the looks on the policemen's faces, Steve assumed it wasn't something real good. He cleared his throat and looked at one of the policemen. "Does he speak English?"

The captive jerked his head up furiously and started speaking in broken English. "Who do you think I am? Of course I speak English you darn whoever you are. What are you trying to do talking as if I am some sort of creature?"

Steve raised his eyebrows. "I'm sorry."

The guy rolled his eyes and looked at one of the guards. "First he insults me, and then he apologizes. Who is this guy anyway?"

Stark stepped in, deciding he had lost the attention long enough. "That is Steve Rodgers aka the Star Spangled Banner aka Captain America...and I am Tony Stark who you knew about already."

The guy frowned and shook his head. "I recognize this Captain America guy now but I don't know you."

Tony gaped. "I am Iron Man, duh. Everyone knows that!"

The captive opened his mouth to reply, but Steve broke in. "Alright, alright. Enough of that. We came here to ask you some questions, not to argue about names and languages. What we really need to know is your name."

The captive sighed, as if to say he was surrounded by idiots. "I'm Dr. Slaviec, good friend of a scientist named Dr. Draxes. He invited me to a private dinner to discuss some things. Now I will be late since I missed my flight...thanks to you!" He glared at Tony.

"What was he going to discuss with you?" Steve shot an angry look at Tony who was just about to shoot back a witty response to Slaviec's glare.

At this question, Slaviec's whole attitude changed instantaneously. He glared at Steve coldly with a look of pure hatred. "None of your business where I go and what I do."

Steve tilted his head and looked calmly at the captive. "Actually it is if you appear as a threat to S.H.I.E.L.D."

Slaviec's eyes widened at this, and he started twisting and kicking the guards, trying to break free from their grasp on his wrists and upper arms. Steve frowned and shook his head.

"It's too late for that now. We're taking you back to headquarters for interrogation."

Slaviec glared at them angrily, and slumped down, giving up.

-AVENGERS ASSEMBLE-

Natasha and Clint looked around angrily at the many guards surrounding them. Natasha felt a strange, panic sensation and horrible images were flashing into her head which could only mean another memory attack. She kept her gaze on Clint and took deep breaths, angry at herself for being so helpless to these attacks.

Draxes smiled at them gloatingly. "Who knew I could capture both the little spider and the hawk?"

Clint smirked, trying to cover up the pain and worry that he hoped was not showing on his face. "It's not that hard. It's happened many times before. You shouldn't be gloating yet because the thing we are really good at is escaping and killing everyone at the same time. I'd watch it if I were you."

Natasha watched Draxes' smile fade slightly, but he only chuckled. "Such a cocky attitude! We will need to break you hard I see to get the information I need..." Draxes turned to Natasha and looked her up and down thoughtfully. "Maybe we can break you using this little spider? Do you like this little spider very much, Hawkeye?"

Clint's smirk faded into an angry glare and he snarled. "Don't try it. People who touch this little spider don't live two days."

Natasha throughout this whole conversation had been trying to force down the images and panic that kept popping into her mind. Her heartbeat quickened and her breath became hard to catch. She squeezed her eyes shut and forced the panic down with all her might.

Draxes turned to her. "What is this? Is the famous Black Widow shaking with fright? Oh, this is something to remember!" He stepped up to her and patted her cheek. Natasha glared furiously and turned her gaze to Clint who was looking at her concerned, sensing something was not right.

"Take them to the basement! I have a guest arriving soon and I do not want them seen." He smiled evilly at Natasha. "I will see you soon." Clint growled furiously as they were shoved past him, partly out of pain from his leg but mostly out of anger and frustration. He turned his attention to Natasha who looked on the verge of screaming. Her whole face was contorted, and it looked like she was having a hard time even breathing. He clenched his fists in frustration, hating the sight of seeing her suffer and not being able to help.

By this time, they had reached a door with several locks and bolts on it. One of the guards pulled out a key chain and began going through the keys. After a few moments of tense silence, the guard found the key and inserted it into the locks. The door swung open to reveal steep stairs fading into a solid black darkness.

The guards pushed them down, ignoring Clint's grunts of pain, and turned on a light. The basement was empty except for several chains on the wall. Clint didn't want to think about who would have been chained there before them.

The guards proceeded to chain them to the wall, forcing them to sit down with their arms above their head. Then they left, turning off the light, leaving the two assassins in complete darkness.

As soon as Clint heard the door click, he shifted himself over to Natasha, leaving his arms at an awkward angle behind him.

"Natasha?" He whispered.

He heard a shuffle and then a strained, "I'm fine." It was obvious just from the strain and tension in the answer that she wasn't alright.

"What happened? Did they hurt you?"

Natasha sucked in deep breath and then groaned in frustration. "Not physical. Mental."

Clint's eyes widened as he realized. Natasha was forcing down one of the strange memory attacks. "Take deep breathes." He said, his mind whirling with ways to help her through.

Natasha let out a huge, frustrated sigh. "What do you think I've been doing, idiot!" This was an experience she had never been prepared for: fighting her own self. It was like one of her many attacks on a target, except for this time it was herself that was the target.

It was a horrible sensation...one second a horrible image popping into her mind, the next, an intense flash of panic, and then the next, trying to urge her mind to convince itself that it wasn't real. Her heart beat quickened and throbbed painfully till she was almost positive her heart was going to explode any second. It was almost like the first incident in the gym, except for this time, she was fighting it.

"Clint!" She gritted out as another image popped into her head, this time of an agent in the Red Room that she had known, lying mutated and bloodied as other agents screamed and fought the girls who had attacked them.

"I'm here, Tasha." Clint's voice was soft and calm, but Natasha could sense the anxiety in his voice.

Suddenly, a sharp pain behind Natasha's eye made her flinch. She immediately knew what had happened as she had seen it before in victims and other agents for S.H.I.E.L.D. A small blood vessel behind her eye had burst, and she knew her eye would probably become bloody red.

She groaned and kicked her legs in frustration. Clint immediately tensed up. "Natasha. You're going to be fine. Try to think of something else. Remember when we met in Budapest?"

Natasha almost screamed out of frustration, wanting to give in to the memories. "Blood vessel. Burst." She gasped out. Even as she said it, she felt a sharp pain behind her other eye.

She swore heavily, and then took several deep breath, trying to lower her blood pressure. "Need to lower blood pressure."

Clint clenched his teeth and tried to loosen his wrists from the chains. He grunted as he felt the sharp cuffs ripping the skin of his wrists. Then his right hand was free thanks to the many tricks he had learned on how to remove handcuffs. He could feel the warm, sticky blood dribbling down his arm, but he didn't care anymore.

He let out another grunt of pain, and then his left hand was freed. He paused listening for a sign to see where Natasha was. But there was nothing. Not even a breath. "Natasha?" He whispered furiously. There was no reply. He moaned and felt his way over to where he thought she was. Sure enough, he bumped into her leg, sending a jolt of pain down his own infected leg. He ignored the pain and immediately felt for her pulse. It was too strong. Way too strong.

"Gosh darn it, Natasha!" He grunted.

Just then he heard the door open and saw a small light from the top of the stairs. Then the light was switched on, revealing Natasha's unconscious form and Clint, bloodied and broken, holding on to Natasha. "What are you doing!" a voice shouted roughly.

Clint groaned inwardly when he saw who it was.

**Darn it! I did it again. Another cliffhanger...:/ I'll really REALLY try to do better next time.**

**Oh, and if you want to find out more about the one image of Natasha's I mentioned, I have more on it in my other fanfic about Natasha's past, _The Past, The Present, The Future. _:)**


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